


M.A.R.I.A

by shadowjjong



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types, Sonic the Hedgehog - Fandom
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Scientists, Angst, Crimes & Criminals, Drama, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Genetic Engineering, Genetically Engineered Beings, M/M, Multi, Out of Character Shadow the Hedgehog, Science Experiments
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23298352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowjjong/pseuds/shadowjjong
Summary: "I wasn't truly created to fight. I was created for you, Maria."Sometime in the 1950's, Robotnik Inc. was hard at work on their most promising yet dangerous scientific breakthrough involving the manipulation of small animal genes dubbed "Project Соник," with the founding scientist Gerald's son, Christopher Robotnik, suddenly thrust into the heart of it. Tragedy strikes though, when Christopher is the victim of a freak accident in the company's lab and is transformed into a humanoid hedgehog. He then finds solace and life once again in a daughter he never knew he had, Maria, who names his new self "Shadow." But when Maria is taken from him one night just like his humanity, what is left for Shadow to live for?
Relationships: Maria Robotnik & Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog & Sonic the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first serious Sonic fic and I'm excited to start posting it. It's been sitting in my files for quite a while and with the whole pandemic occurring and no school, I've found myself empty enough to polish it & finish it up. The story itself has been in my mind for much longer than I can remember, and a human Shadow has always been my favourite concept.
> 
> Some things to keep in mind while reading though are:
> 
> *The story isn't necessarily canon; like the tags say it's an AU story, but you'll see a lot of stuff that's inspired by Shadow's original storyline from Shadow The Hedgehog (the game.)
> 
> *Christopher Robotnik is potentially an original character and an alternate version of Shadow at the same time. He also doesn't have anything to do with Christopher Thorndyke from the Sonic X series, I just borrowed the name for the character :)
> 
> *Maria is Shadow's biological daughter.
> 
> *At some point in the story there WILL be a somewhat romantic interaction (but very subtle and VERY soft) between Shadow and Sonic. If you're not cool with that, then the later chapters probably won't be for you. HOWEVER, the main storyline isn't heavily dependent on their relationship so it's possible to gloss over and still enjoy the rest of the story.
> 
> With all that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story !!

  
  


A single gunshot was fired.

He woke up, drenched in his own sweat, panting as he clenched his silk-woven bed sheets. He shook his head frantically, trying to make out his surroundings in the spacious dark room around him. He began sobbing hysterically yet quietly, so as to not wake anyone else. He let out a heavy sigh as he ran his slender fingers through his sleek, shadowy black hair, clenching the ends of the strands and bringing them over his face. These nightmares were getting to be frequent. He would never get over them. He would never get over anything.

"Maria..." he whimpered into his palms.

He could never erase those blood-curdling screams from his ears.

-

She was his only reason.

For everything.

In his mind, Maria existed solely so he could truly live.

When she was first put into his arms, her small, pink frame of flesh warm against his cold chest, he felt something rush through his being.

He felt life.

He was dead before Maria. She was the one who reminded him of the heart beating erratically inside his chest. All those dreadful years of being experimented on and researched and tampered with like a crippled lab rat revolving constantly in his mind like a lingering tobacco stench came to an unexpected halt and he suddenly didn't care what happened to him anymore.

The dark blue eyes that shimmered like the ocean waves being rocked by the moon's force staring up at him seemed to beckon him to forget all that was and to just focus on them.

And that's exactly what he did for the next 10 years that followed. He focused on Maria, on her oceanic eyes, on her smile and her strawberry blonde curls that bounced cheerfully whenever she turned his way as he called for her.

She gave him his name. She gave him his life.

He swore to become her shadow. To never abandon her side, to not disappear no matter how hard things would get.

" _I realize now that I was not truly created to fight,_ " he told her one day as he walked alongside her throughout the large mansion halls. He looked down into her eyes once more, watching the ocean waves crash against each other in them. He smiled for the first time in forever.

" _But rather, Maria, I was created for you. I was made to love you._ "

His daughter smiled back at him for the last time ever.


	2. Project Соник: The Beginnings

“Christopher Robotnik,” the man declared as he entered his father's lab for the first time, greeting the scientists being introduced to him. “Animal Genetics engineer.”

“Ah, Gerald's boy, eh?” one of the scientists exclaimed, shaking his hand warmly, “I'm Dr. Black. A close acquaintance of your father's.” Christopher smiled nervously and nodded his head in response. 

“Come, come!” the bushy-haired scientist continued, walking Christopher around the laboratory, “What a piece of luck this is, then! Such an honor to have another extraordinary brain on our team. Your father must be ecstatic that you're following in his footsteps!”

“Oh, hardly so,” Christopher chuckled politely, “He's just content with me doing something productive at my young age instead of—well, how did he put it?” They stopped in front of a large test chamber glowing bright blue.

“Dilly-dallying?” Dr. Black asked, fiddling with some buttons on the chamber. Christopher found himself examining the chamber carefully, eyeing a rather oddly shaped figure suspended inside that could barely be seen. It took him a few seconds to get back to his senses and reply.

“Ah, yes,” he remarked hurriedly with a smile, “Dilly-dallying. Precisely.”

“Well, your old papa always was the 'all-work-and-no-play' type,” Dr. Black laughed, his round belly dancing to the rhythm of his laughs. “But neither of you need to worry! I'm sure you'll be plenty busy working in here.” He then turned around and smiled at Christopher in a quite unpleasant manner.

“Especially with “Соник” underway.” He patted the brightly glowing chamber a few times. “We're going to need all the brains we can get. Robotnik Inc. as we know it, is depending on it. Maybe even the whole wide world.”

The plump man's face then suddenly brightened up and he began laughing once more, lightly slapping Christopher's arm.

“My _paycheck_ sure is depending on it!”

Christopher laughed uneasily along with him, his attention diverted back to the test chamber. Just what was the creature floating in there?

“So,” Dr. Black continued, “Are you prepared to be in the forefront of the project?”

“What project?” Christopher inquired, following the older man as he flipped through various files on a nearby desk.

“Why, this very project that I was just talking about!” Dr. Black exclaimed as he turned around, pointing to the same test chamber once more. “We call it, 'Project Соник!'”

Christopher couldn't deny his piquing interest in this project. He cocked his head to the side, slicking his smooth black hair back and eyed the scientist intently.

"You're clearly quite enthusiastic about this project, Dr. Black," Christopher stated, "mind telling me a bit more, then?"

"Why, not at all!" Dr. Black remarked loudly, smiling widely. "Please, walk with me, Christo."

"Uh, it's Christopher," Christopher corrected, walking swiftly behind the other man.

"Yes, yes, of course, Kristof," Dr. Black said, not really paying attention to Christopher. He seemed to be too enveloped in the file drawer he was looking through. 

"Aha!" The man exclaimed, pulling out a red file folder.

"Right-o then, here we are," he said, handing the folder to Christopher. "Everything you need to know about Project Соник is right in there."

Christopher nodded at Dr. Black, thanking him, and promptly opened the folder. It was a fairly thick one. There were plenty of type-written documents inside, as well as some hand-written ones. Various photographs of small wild animals, and anatomy diagrams were also scattered throughout. There were also what seemed to be hair and fur samples in small plastic bags.

"I'm seeing a lot of animal-related documents and samples in here." Christopher remarked. "Does the project have to do with animals, then?"

"Exactly," Dr. Black replied, waving his finger at Christopher. "Project Соник in itself is basically an animal experiment. In fact, it's more like a series of animal experiments all strung together on one thread." He brought Christopher over to a table where various glass animal cages were placed.

"You see, Kristof—"

"Christopher," he interrupted.

"Right, Christopher," Dr. Black said, smiling once more. "You see, Christopher, me and your father, we spent long amounts of time observing animals, what they do, how they live, how they deal with danger and how they adapt to the world around them. We realized that there are just so many things animals are capable of doing, that we humans can simply never even dream of!"

"They have such extraordinary abilities, one could even call them 'superpowers!'" he continued, "And Dr. Gerald and I, we wished to harness their abilities and turn them into something more. We believed in the hidden potential of some of these smaller animals. That if their genes could be fused with elements even more powerful, we would be able to create something that could rival even the strongest of both animal-kind and mankind."

"That sounds very intriguing, Doctor." Christopher said. "But what kind of powerful elements exactly would be utilized in this process?"

Dr. Black let out a low chuckle.

"That, my boy, is the best part." he remarked quietly, pulling out a tattered and yellowed paper from the file folder. It seemed to be a page ripped out of a very old book. Christopher scanned it slowly. The writing was in an indescribable language. There was an illustration above the writing. It contained what looked like seven differently colored diamonds forming a circle around some sort of three-eyed being resembling a devil.

"You see these colored things here? They're called Chaos Emeralds." Dr. Black said, pointing to each emerald.

"'Chaos Emeralds?' You mean, like jewelry?" Christopher asked, confused. Dr. Black began laughing hilariously again.

"Oh, dear Christopher, how funny you are," he cried, "If you weren't such an amazing scientist I'd think you were a comedian of sorts!" Christopher looked over Dr. Black a few times, a bit stricken by his quite eccentric nature.

"No, no, they're not the kind of emeralds you're thinking of," he explained. "According to ancient Slavic legends, there exist several sources of infinite energy stored in seven different emeralds that could bring about great power and destruction when united. Apparently, when the seven emeralds were placed within close proximity to one another under direct sunlight, they'd call forth a horrible being from the underworld known as 'Gibel,' a large, three-eyed demon who bathed in disaster and misfortune. The ancient folk were as terrified as they were amazed by the emeralds' power, calling them 'Khaos Izumrud' which means 'Emeralds of Chaos' and ultimately decided on sealing the seven of them away where they would no longer cause harm."

Dr. Black then pulled out an extremely old and outdated map of the world from his own coat pocket. It appeared to be from the same source as the page with the illustration of the emeralds. 

"It turns out that they scattered them throughout the globe, in what we now know as the seven continents of the world." He pointed to each continent on the map.

"So, supposedly there was an emerald in each continent?" Christopher asked.

"Oh, not just supposedly," Dr. Black answered. "See, me and your father embarked on a worldwide journey a few years ago to find these Chaos Emeralds for ourselves to use for Project Соник."

"Wait, wait," Christopher said, waving his hands. "You mean to tell me these 'Chaos Emeralds' actually exist?"

"Why, yes, yes of course!" Dr. Black remarked aggressively. "In fact, we managed to successfully acquire six of them and bring them back here to Robotnik Inc. Now, I don't know much about the horrible demons and whatnot, but what I _do_ know is that these emeralds truly do possess unprecedented amounts of energy and each one is made up of different chemical compounds and are their own unique elements."

"Interesting..." Christopher mumbled, letting his fingers run over the ancient map. "Chaos Emeralds, then, eh..." He turned back to the other scientist.

"You mentioned that you found six of them," he said. "What about the seventh?"

"Forever lost, it seems," Dr. Black said, adjusting one of the cages on the table. "That, or it's possible that it was shattered into smaller pieces that our scouring machines just couldn't pick up on." A small hedgehog came crawling out of the corner of the cage. He pulled a small piece of bread out of his pocket and fed it.

"In any case, we're quite satisfied with the six emeralds we already have!" Dr. Black exclaimed happily. "They'll more than do the trick for us. Now, we're just counting on the compliance of these little guys with our project." He picked up the hedgehog carefully in his hands and playfully scratched it's snout.

"And you as well, Kristof!" Dr. Black chuckled, placing his free hand on the younger man's shoulder, shaking it eagerly. "We're all counting on you to do your best and give your all to the project. It's going to play an important part not just for Robotnik Inc., but for our country as well. It could also be used as a means of defense against other countries who wish to bring harm to our Rusya."

"So you're saying you want it to be a weapon?" Christopher said, still a bit irritated from the scientist's continuous name errors.

"A defense mechanism doesn't necessarily have to be a weapon, my boy." Dr. Black replied earnestly, placing the hedgehog back in it's cage. "But eventually, you'll come to learn that sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures." 

Christopher nodded, finding the older man's point to be valid. He bent down to the cage and watched the hedgehog scurry around inside. He then smiled to himself for a moment and looked back at Dr. Black.

"Although I do feel like this was all a bit abrupt," Christopher declared, walking back to the test chamber, "I must say that this project has already managed to completely capture my imagination, what with all the speak of super-powered animals, ancient emeralds, and demons and such." He squinted so as to try and make out whatever was in there. It just wouldn't leave his mind.

"I guess what I mean, Dr. Black," he said, smiling at the other man. "Is that I'm more than looking forward to being a part of Project Соник."

Dr. Black chuckled merrily and brought Christopher into a light embrace, the older man's bushy black beard scratching against Christopher's cheek, which undoubtedly made him feel a bit uncomfortable. The plump scientist let go of Christopher and looked him carefully in the eyes, and for a split second Christopher swore that he saw something sinister flash in the other man's eyes. 

"Glad to have you on the team, Christo, my boy." Dr. Black then patted Christopher's and left, whistling as he waddled away. 

"Sir, It's Christophe—" Christopher started, but then sighed, "Oh, what does it matter." He turned back to the chamber and stared at it for a while. He placed his hand against the glass. It was unusually warm. The blue matter was glowing so brightly, Christopher thought it might blind him.

The figure he'd seen earlier had now somehow vanished from sight. He couldn't stop thinking about how bizarre it appeared to him the first time he laid eyes on it. He wondered if this project would bring about even more oddities. He also couldn't help but think of Dr. Black as an oddity as well.

 _Something is most definitely off about that man,_ he thought to himself.

His attention was averted back to the hedgehog, making quite a bit of noise and it hustled and bustled about in it's cage, looking as if it were uneasy. Christopher knocked softly on it's cage, as he looked over the project file folder Dr. Black had left next to it. The Gibel's menacing eyes stared back at him from the illustration on the page he'd seen earlier. For some reason, Christopher felt as if the Gibel seemed familiar, examining the picture more closely. He shrugged it off as probably seeing it in a storybook of sorts.

Christopher shut the file folder and picked up the hedgehog from it's cage, walking over to stand before the test chamber once more. He lightly pet the little animal in his hand, and he could feel it's small wet nose tickle the inside of his hand as it sniffed his palm. He smiled and gazed at the chamber's bright blue glow, seemingly magical. He wondered if he'd ever see a shade of blue as captivating as this again.

"Project Соник..." Christopher whispered to himself. He simply couldn't wait to see what was in store.


End file.
